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Hawaii: Honolulu in food, views, sketches, and kitties

When one of our Honolulu friends offered her apartment to us while she was out of town, we were grateful for her generosity, though we hadn’t seen the space itself. If anything, we thought it would be like the places we all lived in when we were almost-neighbors in LA: decent, a little dated maybe, but cozy. We did not expect a spacious 2-bedroom on a corner of the 29th floor of a highrise, overlooking a beach park and a shopping center.

As predicted, Honolulu is completely different from the Big Island. It feels like a city — albeit one where surfboards, monkeypod trees, and plumeria are common sights.

It might all be a bit overwhelming after the small-town calm of Waimea, but because our friend’s nephew Jeff is also staying here, we have a live-in guide (and he’s fantastic company as well). The first night we arrived, he drove us to Waikiki to wander around the fancy hotels and see the fireworks.

We also spotted a fire dancer. (The “fireworks” setting on my camera again proved useful!)

In the four days since then, we have visited the farmers’ market, hiked to a waterfall, eaten Okinawan donuts with one of my grad school friends, baked a pineapple cheesecake, and devoured some excellent meals. I also attempted to paint on the beach, which was not easy since it was very windy. We have not: gone swimming (either in the ocean or in the apartment’s pristine pool). I have no excuse for this; it just hasn’t happened.

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Jeff also brought us to a cool lookout point where we could see Diamond Head (that crater in the distance that looks a bit like Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh) and Manoa.

There was a full moon and it danced with the clouds.

I took a little video so you can see their dance (which I set to music by local ukelele player Jake Shimabukuro):

I can’t believe it myself, but the day after tomorrow we are leaving for Kyoto.

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Wow! Amazing photos. (Rainbow! Octopus! Sunset! Cat!) I loved the video, too! And the drawings are charming. (What sort of pen are you using?)

It feels like a lifetime ago that I was last in Honolulu. I’m having trouble matching up your photos to my memories. Maybe much of that is because I mostly saw things from the ground. I did lots of walking.

Hee, thanks, Alejna! (“Rainbow! Octopus! Sunset! Cat!” indeed. :D ) And thanks for watching the video! Yeah, we didn’t do a whole lot of walking while we were in Honolulu, and we got a selective tour of the city thanks to Jeff showing us around. I’m sure if we’d stayed for a month I’d have an entirely different take.

I use a number of pens for these quick sketches. I did the waterfall sketch in the Edding 55 fineliner I bought in Glasgow (I love it!), and for the one below that I also used a Berol Fine Color (also bought in Glasgow, and so much loved that the name has rubbed off and I momentarily panicked while trying to look it up, thinking I’d never find it again) and the brush end of a Staedtler Marsgraphic 3000 duo (bought in Cambridge, in fact! it’s nice and inky, almost liquid if I press down hard).

You know me, I’ll comment mainly on the drawings (but I must say you two look as happy as clams! your joy is contagious)
Excellent drawings! both are great (and you know I don’t just say stuff, doncha?)
The rhythms in both are varying and interesting, the balance of horizontals vs verticals in the first one, and the false symmetry of the second one (where the higher palm is thinner, and balanced by a lower bush)

We’re pretty happy clams, for sure. :) Thank you so much for the good words on the drawings — I do know you don’t just say stuff. :) I thought you would like that first one. I actually don’t think I would have dared try to draw a waterfall, say, last year, but I thought of you telling me to just try it! ;)

I'm Lisa Hsia, an independent writer and artist in Oakland, California. To see more of my work, explore the sidebar below.

I write two basic types of posts here: image-rich observations of daily life or travel or my artwork, and more essay-like musings. It's not a blog to read in a hurry. I write long and think deep. Sit with me.